#144
Two young men were
seated, meditating, in perfect lotus positions facing each other on the neatly
cut grass. Their eyes were closed taking in the fragrances of the roses, the
sounds of the morning, the warmth of the springtime sun. The boys seemed oblivious
to the garden around them. Well, one of them was anyway.
The brunette was in a
deep trance, his mind at peace for the moment. The blonde, however, was having
a bit of difficulty letting go of the morning. He always did when he had to
meditate outdoors. The day just felt so wonderful to him. A gentle breeze
picked up and ruffled his hair a bit. Birds were twittering from the nearby
birdbath and he desperately wanted to open his eyes to look. He fought the urge
off only to hear a bee fly right past his ear, the buzz making his ear tickle
and he shivered slightly. That bee was the last draw. Giving up, he opened his
eyes and sighed softly.
Even though he
considered the colonies his home, he had a deep-set appreciation for the Earth.
Everything here was real. It wasn't created by man. It was in danger of
actually being destroyed by man. The Earth was completely natural. He couldn't
help looking around his garden and up at the clear blue sky. The wind was
pushing the puffy white-silver clouds across the sky. Quatre smiled.
"You're not
concentrating," his friend said.
"Well, if you're
talking, neither are you!" he returned, grinning a bit. "How can you
concentrate on such a beautiful day?"
He received no
response. Trowa had seemed to fall back
into his trance. Quatre knew him better than that though. Clutching a handful
of grass and pulling it up, he threw it at his friend.
Jade eyes flew open to
stare at Quatre. "You're not concentrating!" Quatre said, and laughed
a bit.
"We won't do this
outside again then. I forget at times how much of a romantic you are."
Trowa gave up as well, pulling his knees up and leaning back on his elbows. He
stared up at the sky. "But it is beautiful."
Quatre lay down on his
back completely, folding his hands over his stomach. They stayed silent for
quite some time gazing at the sky. Soon
Quatre heard the church bells chiming, announcing it was ten o'clock. He looked
to see that Trowa was asleep. He would've let him sleep if Trowa had not
fractured his wrist a few weeks before. He had a doctor's appointment that
Quatre was forcing him to keep at eleven.
"Hey,
Trowa," Quatre called, shaking him gently.
Trowa awoke and sat
up, looking around. "What… what time is it?"
"Time for you to
be on your way, I'm afraid."
Trowa nodded, standing
up and brushing himself off slowly. He offered Quatre a hand and pulled Quatre
to his feet. "You're going to go, right? I don't have to go with you to
make sure you don't skip out, right?" Quatre asked.
"Right. I'll go.
I'll call you later and tell you if the doctor thinks I'm ready to go back to
work. It feels fine. I think he'll agree."
"So you'll be
with Catherine?"
Trowa nodded and left
Quatre alone. Quatre looked back around at the garden, smiling. He walked
inside his new mansion to go check his email. Duo should have replied to his
last letter by now.
"Master Quatre,
there you are!" Rassid called out as he made his way to his study.
Quatre stopped and
looked at him. "Good morning, Rassid!" he said.
"And to you as
well. I have a bit of good news for you. You'll be having a visitor for dinner
tonight. Actually, a couple of them. They've asked that their names not be
revealed, so I'm afraid you'll just have to wait to find out."
"Huh? That's real
nice of you! I'll be antsy all day now…" Quatre said.
Rassid smiled. "I
believe that was their point."
"Well, see to it
that the proper preparations are made. I don't want them thinking me rude on
any level."
"Of course,
Master Quatre. It's already been taken care of."
"Thank you,
Rassid. I'll be in my study and later in the conservatory playing some of the
Strauss that Trowa had found and brought to me this morning. He said I had
better have it perfect by the time he returns," Quatre said, grinning.
"As I'm sure you will. If you'll excuse
me," Rassid bowed his head and went about his duties.
Quatre's mind wondered
if it was Duo or Heero or one of his old friends coming to visit. They had
moved back among the colonies while Quatre had rebuilt his father's colony then
bought a summer home on Earth. The Earth was where Trowa wanted to stay due to
Catherine and Trowa was one of the only people he didn't want to be away from
too long. It was lucky for him that the circus had set up a permanent location
on Earth, giving up the nomadic life. It had become world-renowned. Quatre
guessed that it was the equivalent to what Disney World had once been. He had
bought his home in the countryside nearby the city the circus had located in.
A servant brought in a
tall glass of lemonade for him while he was checking his email. He frowned at
all the spam mail. He sighed as he began forwarding them all to twenty people
so the little girl living on his father's colony would not die of a disease. It
was hope and caring that made these things work.
x
Trowa walked into his
sister's apartment rubbing his wrist. It felt funny to be able to touch the
flesh where a bandage had been for the past few weeks. Catherine was seated
amidst a sea of colorful cloth, pins, and scissors. He noticed the sewing
machine set up on the table and realized she was making new costumes. He took a
seat in front of her and picked up the notebook to see what her latest
creations looked like.
"Not for us.
Unless you want to fit into the clown car with the other 17 people I'm making
costumes for," Catherine said, taking the notebook from her brother before
he could tease her about her terrible designs. "How's your wrist?"
"He said I should
take it easy on it. I'll be able to do some work, but not many handstands or
tumbling. It feels fine, though. He thinks it's still weak. Hand me a pattern
and I'll help cut these out."
Catherine obliged and
they began to work on the costumes together. Trowa was wondering if Quatre
would really be able to play the music he had paid a small fortune to get. He
himself was no good at reading music. He was sure Quatre could.
x
"Dammit!"
Quatre thought, utterly frustrated at the music before him. They key the music
was written in was next to impossible. Quatre was sure that Trowa had picked
such a difficult key on purpose. He set his violin in his lap and his thoughts
turned back to his visitors. Who could they be? He knew it wasn't Duo or Heero.
Duo had emailed him and told him that they would be arriving next week to visit
and take care of a few things. Could it be Miss Noin and a date?
"Oh yeah.
Music," he thought, picking the violin back up, mentally cursing Trowa
again. "He'll just have to give me some time. This is tougher than what he
usually brings for me."
x
The day had gone by
agonizingly slow for Quatre. He was usually a patient young man, but not
knowing who was coming was driving him crazy. Rassid had locked himself in a
room away from Quatre because of the way he was following him, asking more
questions that a kid would the day before his birthday.
As it got nearer to
the time his guests would arrive, he took a shower, forcing himself to make it
a long one to pass time. Getting dressed and making sure his clothes and hair
looked nice took up more time. Soon, a servant was knocking on his door,
telling him that his guests had arrived and were waiting in the study for him.
Quatre smiled and
forced himself to walk slow as he followed the servant to the study. Inside the
room was Rassid and what looked like a woman and a girl. When the woman's eyes
met his, he was sure it was one of his sisters that he had not met. She had his
father's eyes. His smile broadened. "Hello!" he said.
"Hello there,
Quatre," the woman said, turning from her conversation with Rassid.
"Master Quatre,
this is Rebecca Winner, your second to eldest sister," Rassid said.
Some quick
calculations in Quatre's head put Rebecca a few years younger than Rassid
himself. "It's a sure pleasure, Rebecca!" He held out his hand and
shook hers, glad to meet her. The sparkle in his eyes proved it.
"Same here,
little brother. I've heard so much about you. Oh, this is my little sister,
Bethany. I hope you don't mind that I brought her," Rebecca said.
"Oh, of course
not. Wait, your sister?" Quatre was confused.
"Yes, my sister.
She was my mother's second child by another man than our father."
"Ah! Nice to meet
you, Bethany!" Quatre said, looking down at the girl. She was barely tall
enough for the top of her head to reach his shoulders. Her red-tinted brown
hair hung in two long braids and her face was splattered with freckles. Bright
brown eyes stared back at him.
"Hello,
Quatre," she said, smiling. She shook his hand as well.
"After dinner,
remind me to give you one of the lollipops that a friend and I made the other
day!" he said, hoping to make the little girl happy.
She laughed. Rebecca
and Rassid did too. "I'm not a child, Quatre," Bethany finally said.
"But I'd love a lollipop nonetheless."
Quatre looked
confused.
"She's seventeen,
young Master." Rassid's laughter was dying down.
"Oh! Pardon me,
Bethany! I guess I look like a real sucker about now, huh?" he laughed.
"Dinner is about
to be served, if you will follow me," a servant interrupted.
They obliged by following,
Quatre making polite conversation the whole time. Quatre was surprised to see Rassid pull out Rebecca's chair for
her. He said nothing of it though as Rassid excused himself and dinner was
served to Quatre and the two ladies.
"So please, tell
me about yourself and why you came here, Rebecca," Quatre said after
everyone had a plate full of food before them.
"Well, Beth and I
are from a colony's resource satellite like most of your sisters. We've lived a
happy life there up until the wars started, but of course no one really lived
happily then. We lost our mother as well as father," Rebecca started.
"I'm sorry to
hear that. I'm only glad that I could help in bringing peace to this entire
world, both the colonies and Earth," Quatre said.
"So many of our
sisters said you were a kind young man, but I had doubts since you were
actually a Gundam pilot. When I found out Rassid was serving you though, I
called and believed what he said. I wasn't lied to," Rebecca said, smiling
a bit.
"You know
Rassid?" Quatre asked.
"I knew Rassid
very well at one time. He was my first boyfriend a long time ago. Of course,
Father never knew and we feared getting caught, so we broke things off."
Quatre's eyes widened
a bit. Rassid had a wife and kids now. How come he had never known… If they had
kept it from his father, there was no chance they'd tell him. He sighed.
"I see. I'm glad you came. I like meeting my sisters. So did you come to
Earth just to meet me?"
Rebecca and Bethany
exchanged glances. "Basically. We'll talk about that later. Why are you
living here on Earth, little brother?" Rebecca asked.
"I like it here.
I like being near my friend Trowa as well, who lives here on Earth with his
sister. The Earth is so beautiful. So real," he said.
"I thought you'd
take over father's duties," Rebecca said.
"Oh, I have. I
have a panel of advisors and I meet with them twice a month. They carry out my
decisions and ideas. When I'm older, I'll do more than what I'm doing now. I
still haven't learned all the ways that the business world revolves with. I'm
learning, yet I know I can't do what father was doing myself yet."
"And your Gundam
is truly destroyed?"
"I have the
knowledge to build another one if needs be, but I don't believe this world
needs that sort of weaponry anymore. I think I'm turning into my father!"
Quatre laughed.
Rebecca grinned.
"Is that really so bad?"
"No, not really,
I guess. We just seemed so set against each other before… I wish he were still
here to tell me whether he thinks what I am doing is right or not," Quatre
said, feeling a bit upset at his own words.
"I'm sure that
he'd be supportive of you no matter what. Even when you got into that Gundam
and ran away he still loved you even if he didn't understand you. He was very sad
when you went away," Rebecca said.
Quatre fell silent.
There was no point in him justifying his reasons. His work as a pilot had
justified it enough.
"Don't be sad.
I'm sure wherever he is, he's damn proud of his little boy. More so than he
ever was of us girls."
"That's not
true!" Quatre said.
"Then how come
all of us grew up with our mothers and you grew up in his home? After 29 tries
he considered himself a failure at making an heir and when you were born he was
so happy."
Quatre clutched the
napkin in his lap. "But…" His words died, knowing she was right. He
had nothing to counter it with.
"I'm sorry,
Quatre. I shouldn't place that on you, it's not your fault. Please, don't worry
about it. Father did care about us and anytime we needed something, he was
there for us. It's why I'm here tonight. I was hoping that maybe you'd do the
same." Her voice seemed to get softer, as if it shamed her to be there.
"Is something
wrong, Rebecca?"
"Yes. See, after
mother died, I got involved with this man. Damn this sounds so stupid…"
Rebecca covered her face.
"Becky…"
Bethany said.
"If something's
wrong, you can bet I'll help no matter how stupid!" Quatre assured her.
"Beth and I moved
in with him. He was my boyfriend of sorts. Well, he started beating me. Now
that I've told him I was leaving him, he's threatened to kill Beth and I. If
you could just let us stay here with you for a while until the law comes
through, we'd be eternally grateful." Rebecca seemed to be crying.
Quatre was angry. Even
in a peaceful world the strong still exploited the weak. "No worries,
Rebecca. You and Bethany are very welcome here, for as long as you need to
stay. I'll personally see to helping with taking care of him as well."
Rebecca's closed eyes
tightened. She blinked them open and sighed as if a great wave of relief had
washed over her. "Thank you so much. Somehow we'll repay you, I
promise," she muttered.
Quatre realized it had
taken a lot of this woman's pride to come to him and admit she needed help.
Instead of telling her he needed no repayment, he nodded. She'd feel better
about it that way. "Have you taken steps to get restraining orders and
such?"
"They keep saying
I need some proof. It's my word against his and I just can't get them to listen
to me."
"Don't worry,
Rebecca. Money is power, they'll listen now. You're with me. There's no need to
worry anymore." Quatre looked down at his food, his appetite nearly lost.
"It's what I
hoped for, sadly enough," she muttered. She ate a few more bites of her
dinner. Quatre could sense that she was uneasy and would rather be alone.
"If you are
through, please feel free to leave. I can have one of the servants show you to
the guest rooms," he said.
"I'm sorry, was I
seeming rude? My world is just falling apart, little brother," Rebecca
said.
"No worries. I
can tell this is the next to the last place you want to be right now and I can
understand. I just hope I can change your opinion of me while you are here.
Please, let me have a servant show you to your room. I'm sure you'll feel much
more at ease there."
She nodded, tears
filling her eyes as she looked at him. "I would... Thank you so much,
Quatre." It surprised him when she stood suddenly. He rose with her out of
courtesy. Instead of turning to the door, she came to him and hugged him
tightly. He closed his eyes tight as tears filled his own eyes as he hugged her
back with as much strength as she put into it. He could almost feel the bruises
on her body as she mentally winced every time he touched one. Empathy was a
strange power to have. She released him and kissed his cheek carefully.
He turned to the
servant standing at the doorway. "Find Rassid and have him show her to her
room." He could tell that Rebecca was happy to hear that. He was sure
Rassid could do something for her that he couldn't.
"Yes, Master
Quatre. As you wish. Please, Miss Winner. This way," the servant said,
bowing his head. Rebecca followed him from the dining room and the doors shut
behind them.
Quatre turned back to
the girl left at his table. "Are you all right?" he asked with a
slight smile.
"I'm just dandy.
Worried about her, but she's a tough cookie. You seem to read her very
well," Beth said.
"I have my ways.
She seems very emotionally scarred by all this, as if she doesn't know which
way she wants to turn. But you ladies are safe here with me. I won't let any
harm come to either of you." He sat back down and took a drink of his
lemonade.
"We really
appreciate that. You really are a nice guy," she said, smiling broadly.
"Weren't you
scared?"
"Of Tim? No. I
mean, I suppose I should have been. I don't know. Please don't make me talk
about it here. I'll get to crying. This food is really good and I want to
eat," she said, her smile returning.
Quatre smiled back. At
least she was in a better mood that Rebecca. Maybe she'd be easier to talk to
as well. She certainly was hungry. He slowly picked at his own food as she was
asking for seconds. How could such a small girl eat so much?
"I'm being a pig,
please forgive!" A big smile and shiny eyes made him laugh a bit.
"I forgive. Eat
as much as you like though. It's no problem," he admitted. "So how do
you like the Earth? Is this your first time here?"
Her eyes bulged as she
swallowed quickly, wanting to speak immediately. "Yes! It's my first time
and it is so pretty! The sky is a real blue, not an artificial blue. The
plants growing here aren't genetically altered and the wind is really wind...
Oh my, I'm rambling!" Her face fell as Quatre giggled a bit at her.
"I'm not even making sense, am I?"
"Actually, you
are. When I first came here all I could do was just sit and look around with
one word on my mind the whole time. Beautiful. I wondered if the people that
lived here even appreciated that beauty. So yes, I know what you mean!"
"Rassid said you
have a large rose garden here. As weird as this may seem, I've never actually
seen a rose bush. I've seen them in magazines and all and I've seen roses being
sold on the streets, but never a bush or a garden. Oh, Quatre, you just have to
let me see your garden!"
Quatre could picture
her getting down on her knees to beg him further if he refused. "When
we're done eating, I'll take you there personally. How's that sound?"
Her eyes widened again
making him smile. "Would you really?"
He nodded. She gave a
squeak of joy. "I'll have to see it again in daylight but after dinner
would be great! I'm so glad you live here!"
Quatre laughed.
"You seem just as enthusiastic as I did."
Brown eyes lifted to
meet his blue ones and Quatre felt his heart skip a beat. It began to thud
slowly after that. Why had he not noticed that Bethany was beautiful until this
moment? He saw her trying to catch her breath as well and his heart sped up
greatly. He felt a flush set into his cheeks as he looked away, wiping his
mouth with a napkin. He found himself anxious to take her to his garden now.
"I... I...
uh..." he stammered.
Bethany laughed at
him. "What was that do you think?"
Quatre was amazed by
the fact that she wasn't embarrassed at all. "I think the Earth has one
more rose on it tonight," he said, his voice sounding as if it would give
at any moment.
She giggled. "How
sweet. Come on, let's finish eating. I have to see this garden!"
Quatre was shaking a
bit. How could he say such a thing to a girl he barely knew? Somehow it felt right.
Duo had once told him that he'd know when someone special came into his life.
Looking at Bethany he was questioning what he knew. He finished his lemonade
and smiled. "I'm ready when you are."
"Quit stalling and
take me!" she said.
Quatre obliged,
watching her as she stared with wide eyes at their ornate surroundings as he
led her down the hallways leading to his garden. He found himself wondering if
his money and power impressed her any at all. He felt like that wasn't what she
was seeing though. He almost knew she was amazed at the artwork hanging from
walls, the finely woven rugs they walked upon, the ornate architecture and the
spacious hallways. They finally reached
a huge set of French doors leading into the garden. Quatre flipped on the
spotlights that lined the walkways through the garden before opening the door
for her.
Her mouth fell open
and her eyes widened at the sight that greeted her as she walked out. Quatre
put his hands in his pockets nonchalantly, smiling at the happiness he could
feel radiating from her. He watched her
in the dim lighting as she bent over to smell a red rose, taking in its scent
deeply. She looked back at him.
"Can I touch it?" she
asked, her voice filled with curiosity.
Quatre chuckled. "Gently.
It'll wilt if too much pressure is placed on it," he said. He watched as she
reached out a tentative finger and touched the flower. She seemed to touch it
so lightly. He held his breath as he realized he was jealous. What in the world
was getting into him? Shaking his head at his own stupidity, he walked past her
to the yellow rose bush. It was a hybrid bush that had orange streaks running
through the yellow. He reached and carefully plucked one from the bush.
Bethany smiled even
bigger when he handed it to her. "Thank you!" she said. She sniffed it and then
kissed it, which only added to Quatre's jealousy. "This place is so amazing.
You are so lucky to own something like this. Do you realize that?"
"I'm very aware of
that. Coming here and meditating and playing music keeps me sane, sometimes,"
he said. He felt a pang of guilt at not mentioning that Trowa was usually with
him when he did those things.
"You play music?" she
asked, turning to look at him.
Quatre smiled again.
"Yeah, I play a variety of instruments. Violin, piano, a tiny bit of flute…" he
said.
"I have to hear you,"
she said.
He nodded. "I'll be
glad to play for you tomorrow."
Her face fell. "Can I
convince you to play tonight?"